The present invention relates in general to snack food products in which one of the ingredients is a gluten-free agglutinant, and more particularly to such snack food products in which that gluten-free agglutinant is nonpasteurized whole (i.e., not ground) chia seed or is derived therefrom. The invention further relates to methods of making such snack food products.
Before the invention of this patent application, most snack foods were held together by gluten, by the gluten in ground up gluten-containing grains, or by the agglutinating properties of sweeteners. Since some people are allergic or sensitive to gluten, and others have to restrict their use of sweeteners, they have hitherto been unable to enjoy many snack foods. Some raw sprouted snack foods were held together by the mucilaginous properties of ground flaxseed or ground chia seed.
In searching the background art for products in which a gluten-free mucilaginous seed such as chia seed, flaxseed, or psyllium is one of the ingredients, Applicant came up with the following:
On pages 265-266 of Raw Energy (Warner Books, Inc., 666 5th Ave., New York, N.Y., 1984), Kenton et al (Kenton) teaches a sprouted grain crisp (pg. 265). Kenton teaches that any kind of grain sprout (germinated grains) can be used to produce a cracker like food product/crisp product (pg. 265), as long as the sprouted grains are ground xe2x80x9cas finely as possible in the food processor.xe2x80x9d Kenton teaches that the resultant product makes a great snack. Kenton takes the sprout product and thoroughly grinds the product in a food processor. After processing the sprouts into a dough, the dough can then be dried (pg. 266). In addition, Kenton teaches that additional ingredients such as honey, carob powder, and dried fruit can be added to food products. Although Kenton teaches that any grain can be used in the crisp product, Kenton is silent as to the specific grains, although Kenton does mention with respect to these products, that they must be ground as finely as possible, most likely, because unless they are ground as finely as possible, the products will not only not hold together well but also one might chip a tooth on the hard dried sprouts therein.
It should be mentioned, that although Kenton teaches a chia containing food product, the references noted above are silent as to the water activity of the product. On pages 103-104 of Water Activity and Food (Academic Press), Troller et al (Troller) teaches that it is essential to regulate the water activity of a food product to prevent microbial growth on the food product. By inhibiting microbial growth, one can prevent giving the consumer food poisoning. It also should be mentioned that although it might seem obvious to make a product such as Kenton""s with whole chia seed rather than ground chia seed and with a sufficiently low water activity to prevent mold, without actually making this food product, it can not be known a priori whether the whole chia seeds in such a food product would be so hard as to break a tooth in the one consuming it.
On page 41 of Common and uncommon uses of HERBS for HEALTHFUL LIVING (Arco Publishing, Inc., 219 Park Avenue South, New York, N.Y.), Richard Lucas (Lucas) teaches:
xe2x80x9cIt is difficult for the body to assimilate any kind of seeds in their whole form. For this reason chia seeds are ground or soaked before using and can be added to the diet in a number of different ways. For example, a mucilaginous drink may be prepared by steeping a single teaspoonful of the seeds in a tumblerful of cold water for 12 hours (overnight). This beverage is ready for use by morning and may be sweetened with honey. From one to one-and-a-half teaspoons of the ground seeds may be sprinkled over salads or mixed with salad dressing; it can also be stirred into a bowl of soup into a cup of cottage cheese; a half teaspoonful can be added to scrambled eggs just before the eggs are removed from the skillet. As a spread, it may be mixed with margarine or butter. From one to one-and-a-half teaspoons of the ground seeds can be added to each cup of liquid used in pancakes or other batters. About two teaspoonfuls may be mixed with half a pint of yogurt. These are just a few examples. No doubt you will find many other ways in which you can fortify your diet with valuable, nutritive chia seeds.xe2x80x9d
Therefore, although Lucas teaches that it is desirable to add chia seeds to a food product, he emphasizes that the seeds must be ground or soaked before adding, and that if soaked, that they be so used while still soaking in the soak liquid. Lucas teaches that ground chia seeds can be used in a variety of products including pancakes. Lucas teaches that the ground chia seeds can be added from one to one-and-a-half teaspoons to a cup of liquid used to make a batter. The batter can be then be cooked into pancakes or other batters. Although Lucas teaches that chia seeds naturally contain hydrocolloid like and mucilaginous properties, one would not expect that whole chia seeds would aid in the adherence of food products, this never having been tried before. Only ground chia seeds were previously known to aid in the adherence of food products. It further should be noted that a glass of water in which chia seeds have been soaking overnight has a water activity over 0.90, and would not be considered a convenient snack food which one could carry in one""s pocket or backpack.
In the first sentence of the above quote, Lucas actually teaches away from the use of whole chia seeds in food products, the sole exception being a drink in which the chia seeds have been soaked for 12 hours. Since no one before the Applicant had ever made a dry food product containing whole chia seeds, it could not be known a priori whether such a food product would be edible, or would break one""s teeth due to having whole dried chia seeds. Since never before had a dry food product contained whole unground chia seed, it could not be known a priori whether such a food would hold together well, or would shatter into a thousand pieces at the slightest touch. Even if it were known that foods containing ground chia would be held together by the agglutinative properties of ground chia, one would not be able to logically extrapolate to the agglutinative properties of whole nonground chia seeds. Until one actually makes a dry food product containing whole unground chia seeds and examines its properties, one cannot a priori state what those properties might be. I, for example, sincerely believed, based upon previous experience with and research on chia seeds, that if a dry product were produced in which whole chia seeds were the only ingredient, it would be so fragile that it would crumble at the slightest touch.
On pages 72 and 73 of The UNcook Book by Elizabeth and Dr. Elton Baker (Drelwood Publications 1980, Distributed by Communication Creativity, Saguache, Colo. 81149), the suggested uses for chia seed sprouts are xe2x80x9csoups, dips, spreadsxe2x80x9d. The recipe for rolled tacos on page 105 lists flaxseed meal or chia seed meal as one of the ingredients and mentions that a rather stiff paste can be formed from the ingredients.
Just before the recipe for Wheat Crackers on page 111, the following statement appears: xe2x80x9cAll crackers can be made without flaxseed meal. However, for a crisper, noncrumbling cracker, add 2 or 3 tablespoons of flaxseed meal and a few teaspoons of water to the dough.xe2x80x9d The recipe for Wheat Crackers is then given as follows:
Then on p. 112, the recipe for Rye Crackers is given as follows: xe2x80x9cUse the same recipe as for Wheat Crackers, but use sprouted rye and add xc2xd cup chia or flaxseed meal and xc2xd cup water. (The seed meal keeps the crackers from crumbling.)xe2x80x9d
Also on p. 112, the recipe for Rice Crackers is given as follows: xe2x80x9cUse the same recipe as for Wheat Crackers, substituting sprouted rice for sprouted wheat and add xc2xd cup chia seed and xc2xd cup water.xe2x80x9d
The full recipe for Rice Crackers would therefore be:
The recipes for Oat Crackers and Barley Crackers also on page 112 list flaxseed and chia seed meal as optional ingredients and mention that when these are used, a sturdier, richer cracker results.
In the recipe for seed butter on page 118, the ingredients are given as xe2x80x9c1 cup seeds ground to fine mealxe2x80x9d, and xe2x80x9c4 to 6 tablespoons water (sunflower and pumpkin take less water, sesame more, flaxseed the most)xe2x80x9d. The instructions given are: xe2x80x9cMix meal and water, adding liquid until desired thickness. Flaxseed butter will thicken much in a few minutes. We season flaxseed and sesame butters with soaked and drained celery seed, caraway, or dill, for instance.xe2x80x9d On page 154, chia seed yogurt is mentioned as a variation of flaxseed yogurt.
The cracker recipes involving either flaxseed or chia seed all call for the ingredients to be ground in a food processor. When this is done, the resultant batter will not keep for more than a few hours before it starts to sour. And since all the above cracker recipes call for the batter to be spread on cookie sheets, the batter will dry unevenlyxe2x80x94quickly at the surface which is exposed to air and more slowly on the bottom where the batter comes in contact with the cookie pan. This is undesirable as it not only causes the top surface of the batter to have a different appearance and color than the bottom surface of the batter and, most likely, contributes to the large cracks which form in the batter as it dries, but it also greatly slows drying time with a resultant increase in bacterial souring. Further the dried batter tends to stick to the cookie sheet making removal of the batter difficult.
Thus, although, Baker teaches that chia seeds and water can be added to the cracker in order to strengthen the cracker (The UNcook Book, pg. 112), Baker emphasizes that it is chia seed meal which should be used, not whole chia seed. It should be emphasized that although one might be fully knowledgeable about the characteristics of ground chia seed, one would not be able to extrapolate as to whether and how whole chia seed could be used without actually trying it and noticing the results.
Since none of the methods for the above products utilizes whole chia seed in the batter to be dehydrated, it would not be known from those methods whether whole chia seed or an agglutinant derived therefrom could be used as an agglutinant to hold products together. Further, it also would not be known that a batter in which whole chia seed was the agglutinant could be prepared in such a way that the batter, when spread on dehydrator screens, would not leak through and thus could be dried on both sides simultaneously, thus not only greatly speeding up the drying process but also greatly increasing the product yield from each dehydrator tray. Further, when the above products which utilize chia seed meal are dehydrated, the ground up chia seed tends to sour due to the long time that lactic acid bacteria act on the moist ground up chia seed before the water activity of the batter is reduced below 0.60. (Bacterial activity will no longer take place when the water activity of the product falls below 0.60.) The term xe2x80x9cwater activityxe2x80x9d (aw) is used throughout this specification and in the appended claims in its usual context to mean the ratio of the fugacity of water in the system being studied (f) to the fugacity of pure water (f0) at the same temperature. Hence, the water activity of pure water is 1.00. The water activity of the products and compositions herein can be measured using well-known physical chemical techniques and commercially available instruments.)
It should also be noted here that the methods presented by Baker do not recognize the differences in the absorbent properties of flax-seed and chia seed. As it turns out they are not even close equivalents in their water absorption capabilities. Applicant ran experiments to determine the water absorption capability of flax-seed, chia seed, and psyllium (which like flaxseed and chia seed also has a mucilaginous seed coat). Summarizing the experiments, one ounce of flaxseed absorbed 2.1 ounces of water; one ounce of psyllium absorbed 11.8 ounces of water; and one ounce of chia seed absorbed 12.0 ounces of water. (It should be mentioned that chia seeds from a later purchased bag of chia were found to absorb about 16 ounces of water per ounce of chia seeds.) It is seen then that chia seed is nearly 6 times as efficient in absorbing water as flax-seed. Some crackers were made with whole psyllium but these were difficult to chew, the seed coat of psyllium not only being very hard but also indigestible as well. In addition, some people are extremely allergic to psyllium seed. Similarly crackers made with whole flaxseed were difficult to chew due to the hard seed coat and the much larger size of the flax seed. (Chia seed, by comparison, is a very small seed and has a very soft seed coat.) In addition, crackers made with whole flaxseed do not hold together well.
The background art teaches various methods of making crackers from sprouted gluten-containing grains and seeds. Perhaps the earliest method and one which is representative of all those later methods which utilize the gluten in gluten-containing grains to hold products together is found in the third century manuscript The Essene Gospel of Peace which was translated into English in 1928 by Edmond Bordeaux Szekely (International Biogenic Society, B.C., Canada (1981)). The method for making raw sprouted crackers taught by this manuscript (pages 40-41 of the English translation) is as follows:
(1) Sprout wheat for about 12 hours.
(2) Crush the sprouted wheat to paste consistency.
(3) Make thin wafers out of this sprout paste.
(4) Set these wafers in the sun to dry.
There are a number of disadvantages to this method:
1. Unless a cracker has significant gluten, it will not hold together. Unfortunately some people are allergic to gluten which prevents them from enjoying raw sprouted grain crackers. In addition, gluten is a notoriously difficult protein for many people to digest. Although honey can be used as a type of an agglutinant, excessive honey is not conducive to good health.
2. When a gluten-containing sprouted grain is used as the agglutinant, it is necessary to first grind the sprouted grain in a food processor in order to make the gluten in the grain available for agglutinating purposes. The nutrients in the grain which were shielded from oxidation by the seed coat of the grain, are thus now exposed to oxidation when the grain is ground causing the loss of some of those nutrients. Further, a considerable amount of electrical energy is expended in grinding the grain. And, if one is not careful, the grain will overheat as it is being ground leading to the destruction of some of its heat sensitive nutrients.
3. Further, when these sprouted grains are ground into a paste, and this paste is formed into wafers, these wafers are now subject to the action of lactic acid bacteria. While these wafers are drying, the bacteria which were on the surface of the wheat sprouts are now in the raw sprout paste, fermenting it and imparting a sour taste to it. The pH drop due to lactic acid souring, xcex4pHLA, for crackers made from this sprout paste, determined as outlined in xc2xa74.1, is about 1.4. This 1.4 pH drop is due to lactic acid formation in the sprout paste as it dried. Furthermore, due to the thinness of the batter, large drying surfaces are required to produce an appreciable amount of these sprout wafers. (Due to its high gluten content, the resultant crackers are very hard and tend to cut up the inside of one""s mouth as they are chewed due to their sharp, hard edges. If, on the other hand, the drying is stopped before the water activity of the crackers drops below 0.60 in order to yield softer crackers, they have a tendency to mold, and their shelf life is only about a week in the refrigerator.)
Applicant formerly included a large percentage of wheat sprouts in the crackers he made, because wheat is high in gluten, and crackers made with wheat sprouts as a major ingredient hold together well. Applicant, however, noticed that when these crackers were fully dehydrated, they were very hard, and one had to use extreme care when eating them to avoid cutting up the inside of one""s mouth. Consequently, Applicant began including whole hulled sesame seed which is a relatively soft seed in his cracker batter. Not only is sesame seed a relatively soft seed but also the sesame seed dilutes the gluten-containing wheat. As a result the resultant crackers crumble more easily, are somewhat softer, and are less likely to cut up the inside of one""s mouth when they are being eaten. In his search for other soft seeds besides sesame seed which he might incorporate in his crackers, Applicant experimented with hulled sunflower seeds, caraway seeds, fennel seeds, and chia seeds, each of which is relatively soft and has a mild taste.
In order to properly discuss Applicant""s early experimental use of whole chia seed in food products, it is first necessary to introduce the terms Whole Chia Seed Fraction of Agglutinants, CFA, and Majority Agglutinant Amount, MAA. If C is the weight of whole chia seed in a given amount of a food product and GCI is the weight of gluten-containing ingredients in the product, then the Whole Chia Seed Fraction of Agglutinants, CFA, is C/(C+GCI). Essentially CFA is a measure of the portion of the burden of agglutinating the food product which is being borne by the whole chia seed in the food product. If CFA=1, the entire burden of agglutinating a product is being borne by the whole chia seed in the food product. If, however, CFA=0.50, the agglutinative burden is equally borne by the whole chia seed and by the gluten-containing ingredients in the food product. And if CFA=0, the entire burden of agglutinating the food product is being borne by the gluten-containing ingredients in the food product. As will be shown, none of Applicant""s early products with whole chia seed had a CFA higher than 0.5. Since none of the other background art products uses whole chia seed as an agglutinant to hold a food product together, the CFA of all the other background art products, is, by definition of CFA, 0. Similarly, a Majority Agglutinant Amount of chia seed is an amount of whole chia seed in excess of GCI. When whole chia seed is added to an aqueous mixture of other ingredients in a Majority Agglutinant Amount, more than half of the burden of agglutination will be borne by the whole chia seed and less than half the burden of agglutination will be borne by any gluten-containing ingredients present in the aqueous mixture.
One day Applicant planned to make a cracker which would consist of one part by weight wheat sprouts, one part by weight sesame seed, one part by weight chia seed, one tenth part by weight kelp powder, one twentieth part by weight spirulina powder (which has a bright green color), and one-twentieth part by weight enzyme powder. Using the above formula for CFA, the Whole Chia Seed Fraction of Agglutinants, CFA=0.50. By the time of the making of these crackers, the evolution of the methods used to make his sprouted grain crackers had progressed to the point where Applicant would customarily prepare an aqueous slurry from the milled wheat sprouts and all the other ingredients except for the sesame seed. This slurry was very thin which enabled the various ingredients to be very thoroughly mixed together. Now that the wheat sprouts and other ingredients had been thoroughly mixed together, Applicant would stir in whole hulled sesame seed, making a somewhat thicker but still quite thin slurry which he would then pour on dehydrator solid sheets in order to dehydrate it. Therefore on this occasion, Applicant prepared a slurry from wheat sprouts, spirulina powder, and kelp powder and then poured in whole chia seed. Unexpectedly, the mixture became so thick that Applicant was unable to add any sesame seed at all. Further, the chia seed conglomerated and solidified into many large clumps in the batter which frustrated any attempt to evenly disperse the chia seed throughout the batter. Consequently Applicant also had great difficulty spreading the batter on the dehydrator solid sheets. (While, perhaps, this mixture may have been thick enough to have been spread on dehydrator screens, that thought did not occur to Applicant.) As the mixture on the dehydrator sheets dried, it developed large and deep unsightly cracks all over its surface, and numerous clumps of chia seed could be seen in the final product. (At the time, Applicant believed that the reason for these large cracks in the batter was that in the regions of the cracks there was an abundance of chia seed and it was not holding together at all.) And, due to the use of the bright green spirulina powder in the cracker batter, the crackers turned a very unappealing green color.
The crackers were so unappealing due to the unsightly cracks, the clumps of chia therein, and the green color that Applicant only offered them for sale to two of his close friends, one of whom stated that he would even eat sand if he thought it was good for him, and the other who was legally blind. Due to the unappetizing appearance and unfavorable organoleptic properties (due to the clumps of chia therein) of these crackers, Applicant regretted his large recent purchase of chia seed, and included only small amounts of chia seed in succeeding batches of crackers in order to avoid ruining them (while he used up the remaining chia seed). (Succeeding batches of crackers had at least a 4 to 1 ratio of gluten containing sprouts to chia seed. The CFA for succeeding batches of these early crackers ranged from 0.08 to 0.20.) When his supply of chia seed was used up, Applicant planned to never again incorporate chia seed in any of his crackers. (It should be mentioned here that even if these crackers had not developed large unsightly cracks, Applicant nevertheless still would have believed that the crackers were being held together solely by the gluten in the milled wheat sprouts, and not by the as-yet-unknown agglutinating properties of whole slightly germinated chia seed.)
Another way of looking at Applicant""s early experimental use of whole chia seed in crackers, is that each batch of crackers made at that time had a sufficient quantity of gluten-containing ingredients so that when these gluten-containing ingredients were ground up, the gluten contained therein was sufficient to bind together or agglutinate the crackers made therefrom. In other words, each of these early food products which contained whole chia seed had sufficient gluten-containing ingredients to agglutinate the products.
Thus, the background art does not show any food products containing whole (not ground or milled) chia seed which are firm to the touch, and are characterized by being substantially dry to the touch when touched, whereby the food product makes a convenient snack food which can be carried in one""s pocket for example.
With the exception of Applicant""s early experimental use of whole chia seed in crackers, none of the above methods for making chia seed-containing products produce a batter which contains whole chia seed; on the contrary they all have either ground chia seed or chia seed meal in the batter to be dehydrated. And in none of the above methods (including Applicant""s early experimental use of whole chia seed) is there a recognition that whole chia seed (or an agglutinant derived therefrom) in the absence of gluten-containing grains can be used to bind a product together such that it can be used as a convenient snack food. Further, chia seed has a mild but somewhat unusual taste which some people find objectionable. In none of the above methods (including Applicant""s early experimental use of whole chia seed) is there disclosed a method which effectively masks the mild taste of the chia seed. This is important because it has been found that sweeteners alone will not mask the mild but slightly unusual taste of the chia seed. For a truly acceptable product, the taste of the chia seed should be masked so that it can not be detected. Further, none of the above methods teaches one how dehydrator screens could be used instead of dehydrator sheets which would greatly facilitate dryingxe2x80x94the upper and lower sides of the batter could then dry simultaneously, thus greatly speeding up the drying process and reducing souring at the batter""s lower surface.
Since the above background art methods do not teach one how to prepare a batter which could be spread on dehydrator screens, the commercial utility of these methods is severely limited by the bacterial souring which occurs, the unsightly cracks which develop in the batter, and the small yields of product obtained. Further, since in all of the above methods (with the exception of Applicant""s experimental usage of whole chia seed), either chia seed meal is used or the whole chia seed is ground along with other ingredients in a food processor, significant exposure of the interior nutrients of these ingredients to oxidation will take place, resulting in the destruction of some of these nutrients.
NOTE: Throughout the Specification and the claims which Follow, the Words xe2x80x9cSeedxe2x80x9d and xe2x80x9cSeedsxe2x80x9d are Interchangeably used for the Plural of the Word xe2x80x9cSeedxe2x80x9d.
The ideal agglutinant for making crackers (especially nonpasteurized crackers) would be one which
a. does not need to be ground to be easily chewed, grinding not only involving extra time and expense but also exposing the interior nutrients to the deleterious effects of oxidation;
b. does not need to be cooked to be easily chewed. Cooking not only involves extra time and expense but also damages or destroys many of the precious heat labile ingredients of the agglutinant;
c. would not be subject to the souring action of lactic acid bacteria;
d. does not contain gluten to which many people are sensitive, yet contributes to holding the cracker together so as to make it a convenient snack food;
e. makes possible the production of large quantities of crackers, by permitting a greatly increased yield from each dehydrator tray.
f. can be stirred into a thin easy-to-stir slurry of the other ingredients, and will then quickly thicken the resultant batter to such an extent that this batter can now be spread very thickly upon dehydrator screens (instead of on solid sheets) without significant leakage through the dehydrator screens. Hence the other ingredients can first be thoroughly mixed together with sufficient water that this mixing operation consumes a minimum of energy. Cracker""s made by the methods of this invention rely heavily on this most unusual property of chia seed-after all other ingredients have been thoroughly stirred together in a fairly thin easy-to-stir slurry, whole chia seed is added to quickly thicken the batter to such an extent that it can now be spread on dehydrator screens rather than on dehydrator solid sheets, thus resulting in large quantities of a nutritious product with large energy savings. (Suitable screen material would have a hole size of about 0.12 inches by 0.14 inches, and a strand thickness of about 0.05 inches. The screen material provides a perforated surface which gives drying air access to the lower drying surface of the cracker batter.) The type of drying surface provided by a supported screen, mesh, perforated surface or other functionally equivalent surface which gives drying air access to both the upper and lower surfaces of the drying batter simultaneously shall be called a xe2x80x9cdouble-access drying surfacexe2x80x9d. The upper surface of the double-access drying surface which contacts the lower surface of the drying batter shall be referred to as xe2x80x9cthe upper surface of the double-access drying surfacexe2x80x9d.
g. is at least slightly germinated. By slightly germinated, it is meant that the seed, after imbibing some of the liquid in which it is placed, is dehydrated slowly at a low temperature, thus giving the seed enough time to germinate to a small extent. This leads to a slight increase in enzymatic activity within the seed and a slight decrease in enzyme inhibitors.
h. is characterized by having a taste which can easily be masked by the addition of a suitable additive.
i. is characterized by its use resulting in a food product which is firm to the touch, and substantially dry and non-gooey when so touched, so that the resultant food product makes a convenient snack food. If the food product is touched with one""s finger, it will not cling to one""s finger, and if it is picked up between two fingers, it will not fracture.
As it turns out, the proper proportion of whole chia seed in the batter with respect to the other ingredients and with respect to the water in the batter solves all of the problems with the background art products and has all the properties of the ideal agglutinant mentioned above.
Furthermore, an agglutinant which Applicant extracted from chia seed, although it does not have all the properties above, does have properties a through d and h. Thus an agglutinant derived from chia seeds is ideal for making raw sprouted grain crackers when it is not desired to have chia seed as one of the ingredients.
To overcome the disadvantages found in the background art methods, Applicant presents as his invention a new class of food products which is prepared with the nonsouring gluten-free agglutinant, slightly germinated whole chia seed or an agglutinant derived therefrom. When using chia seeds instead of the agglutinant derived therefrom, the chia seeds should preferably be nonpasteurized in order to spare the many heat sensitive nutrients of the chia seeds. With the advent of this invention, not only can food products be prepared with a CFA in excess of 0.50, but with CFA""s which range as high as 1.00. Specifically, Applicant claims as his invention a new class of food products with CFA""s in excess of 0.6. Hence each product having whole chia seed as one of its ingredients in this new class of food products is prepared with an amount of chia seed which is in excess of (0.6/0.4)*GCI and thus, at least 1.5*MAA. Each of the food products disclosed in this application which have whole chia seed as one of the ingredients has a CFA in excess of 0.6. None of the background art products, nor even any product resulting from Applicant""s early use of chia seed, had a CFA higher than 0.5.
The preferred embodiments of this new class of food products are low in gluten-containing ingredients. The bulk of the agglutinative burden is borne by the whole chia seeds, or an agglutinant derived therefrom, in these products and only a small part of the burden is borne by any gluten-containing ingredients therein. In other words the preferred embodiments of this new class of food products are absent sufficient gluten-containing ingredients to agglutinate the products. Another way of saying this is that the preferred embodiments of this new class of food products have insufficient gluten-containing ingredients to agglutinate the products. Needless to say, the most preferred embodiments are entirely gluten-free, the whole burden of agglutinating the food products being borne by the whole chia seed or the derived chia seed agglutinant contained therein.
One of the major products in this invention is a cracker that has the organoleptic properties of figs. This cracker consists of chia seed, a sweet syrup, and carob powder. Throughout the remainder of this specification, the term sweet syrup shall be used for the group of syrups consisting of honey, fruit syrups, grain syrups, tree syrups, and molasses. When crackers are prepared with chia seed and the syrup alone, the mild but somewhat unusual taste of the chia seed can be detected. But with the use of a suitable amount of carob powder, the taste of the chia seed is completely masked, and the product tastes like and has the organoleptic properties of dried figs: sweet, chewy, and slightly crunchy. Due to their strong and pleasant taste, the following may be used in addition to or in place of carob powder in these products to mask the taste of the chia seed therein: chocolate, cocoa, roasted chicory, and coffee. In none of the products of the background art (including Applicant""s early experimental use of whole chia seed) is there a recognition that when carob powder is included in the product in a suitable amount, the carob powder effectively masks the mild taste of the chia seed. This is important because syrups alone do not mask the mild but slightly unusual taste of the chia seed. But with the use of a sufficient amount of carob powder, the taste of the chia seed can not be detected.
The chia seeds in these products are preferably uncooked; i.e. they are not subjected to such times and temperatures which would denature the proteins thereof. Further, the chia seeds in these products are preferably nonpasteurized. According to the fourth edition of Food Microbiology by Frazier and Westhoff (McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1988), xe2x80x9cPasteurization is a heat treatment that kills part but not all of the microorganisms present and usually involves the application of temperatures below 100 C. . . . Times and temperatures used in the pasteurizing process depend on the method employed and the product treated. The high-temperature-short-time (HTST) method employs a comparatively high temperature for a short time, whereas the low-temperature-long-time, or holding (LTH), method uses a lower temperature for a longer time. Some examples follow of pasteurizing treatments given various types of foods. The minimal heat treatment of market milk is at 62.8 C. for 30 minutes in the holding method; at 71.7 C. for at least 15 seconds in the HTST method; and at 137.8 C. for at least 2 seconds in the ultrapasteurized method . . . . Dried fruits usually are pasteurized in the package at 65.6 to 85 C. for 30 to 90 minutes, the treatment varying with the kind of fruit and the size of the package.xe2x80x9d (pages 24-25) All of these pasteurization methods destroy most of a food""s enzyme activity. In fact, according to page 98 of the fourth edition of Food Microbiology, the bovine phosphatase enzyme is monitored in the pasteurization of milk. Detection of this enzyme in processed milk indicates that the milk was not properly pasteurized. When it is stated that the products of this invention are nonpasteurized, what is meant is that they were not subjected to such temperatures and durations of time which would be required to destroy most of the bacterial and fungal activity which ordinarily takes place in sprouts when their seed coats are broken. Such temperatures and times also destroy most of the enzyme activity as well. Further, these products are never heated to a temperature higher than 104xc2x0 F. (40xc2x0 C.), a temperature well below that required to destroy any of the known nutrients in seed sprouts.
Finally although slightly germinated whole chia seed, the agglutinant in these products, is raw, it is not soured. The drop in pH value of the chia seed in these food products during product preparation due to lactic acid bacterial souring is less than about 0.2. The sour taste which is found in raw sprouted gluten-containing grain products whose sprouted grains have been ground, is due to the excessive action of lactic acid bacteria on the moist exposed interior portion of the sprouted grain before dehydration was complete. As the lactic acid bacteria ferment the sugars of the sprouts in these products to lactic acid, the acid buildup in the product lowers the pH of the product thus resulting in the sour taste. Such products typically experience a drop in pH from about 6.0 to less than 5.0 during product preparation. Hence, for such products, xcex4pHLA, the drop in pH due to lactic acid souring during product preparation, is greater than 1.0. (The LA in xcex4pHLA stands for Lactic Acid.)
xcex4pHLA, the pH drop in any product due to lactic acid bacteria converting the sugars of the product to lactic acid during the preparation process can be determined as follows:
1. The cracker batter can be considered as consisting of a certain percentage by weight water and 100 minus that percentage by weight, solids. Based upon the percentages of the various ingredients used, the amount of water which each ingredient contains, and the amount of any additional water added to the batter, calculate the weight percentage of the batter that is water and the weight percentage that is solids. Applicant has determined the weight percentage of water in the following ingredients:
Thus, for example, with respect to the 18 hour sprouted wheat, one ounce of wheat sprouts can be considered as consisting of 0.47 ounces of water and 0.53 ounces of wheat sprout solids.
2. Using the above percentages, take 1 ounce of the batter from which the product is to be made, and add sufficient distilled water to make a slurry which is six parts water and one part solids (hereinafter called a 6:1 slurry).
For example, if it is determined that the one ounce of batter is xe2x80x9cwxe2x80x9d percent water, and therefore xe2x80x9c100xe2x80x9cwxe2x80x9d percent solids, it is necessary to add [6(100xe2x88x92w)xe2x88x92w]/100=(6xe2x88x920.07 w) ounces of distilled water to the one ounce of batter to form a 6:1 slurry.
3. Measure the pH of this slurry. Call it pHo.
4. Dehydrate the batter to a water activity of 0.40.
5. Mill 1 ounce of the final product to flour, and stir it into 6 ounces of distilled water to form a 6:1 slurry.
6. Measure the pH of this 6:1 slurry. Call it pHf.
7. Then xcex4pHLA=pHoxe2x88x92pHf, and is, therefore, a positive number which reflects the pH drop due to lactic acid formation in the product.
As used throughout this specification, the term xe2x80x9c6:1 slurryxe2x80x9d refers to a slurry consisting of six parts distilled water and 1 part the solids of the batter or the product made from the batter. In the case of a 6:1 slurry made from a batter, the water inherent in the batter plus added water would be six times the weight of the solids in the batter. In the case of a product made by dehydrating the batter, the product is considered as having no inherent water, and the water which is added is six times the weight of the portion of the product from which the slurry is to be made.
In the remainder of this specification, the pH value of a product containing chia seed shall be defined as the pH value of a 6:1 slurry prepared from that product. Similarly the pH value of a batter from which the product is to be made shall be defined as the pH value of a slurry consisting of six parts water and 1 part the solids of that batter (i.e., enough water is to be added to the batter so that the water inherent in the batter plus added water would be six times the weight of the solids in the batter).
In each of the Examples of xc2xa75.7, the value of pHf is an actual measured value. Unless indicated otherwise, the value of pHo is an estimated value based on Applicant""s previous work with these materials. Such estimated values will be reasonably close to actual measured values inasmuch as the pH of unsoured seeds and unsoured sprouted grains ranges from about 6.0 to about 6.5, depending on the type of seed or grain.
According to page 388 of the 4 th edition of Food Microbiology (McGraw Hill Book Company, 1988), xe2x80x9cA simplified equation for the production of lactic acid from glucose by such organisms (as lactic acid bacteria) is: 
Actually a series of steps is involved, and small amounts of other products are produced.xe2x80x9d
According to the article on xe2x80x9cHuman Sensory Receptionxe2x80x9d on page 552 of Volume 16 of The New Encyclopaedia Britannica (Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc., 15th Edition, 1982), xe2x80x9cNo simple relation has been found between chemical composition of stimuli and the quality of gustatory experience except in the case of acids . . . . The hydrogen ions of acids (e.g., hydrochloric acid, HCl) are largely responsible for the sour taste; but although a stimulus grows more sour as its hydrogen ion (H+) concentration increases, this factor alone does not determine sourness. Weak organic acids (e.g., the acetic acid in vinegar) taste more sour than would be predicted from their hydrogen ion concentration alone; apparently the rest of the acid molecule affects the efficiency with which the hydrogen ions stimulate.xe2x80x9d This explains why raw sprouted grain crackers in which sufficient lactic acid souring has occurred to lower the pH of the crackers to 4.6 taste much more sour than honey which has a pH of about 4.0 and grape concentrate with a pH of 2.4. The lactic acid molecule stimulates those taste receptors in our taste buds which are sensitive to sour and bitter much more vigorously than do the acidic molecules in honey and grape concentrate.
Therefore, by measuring pH at various stages of the production process, it can be demonstrated that bacterial souring has not occurred in the slightly germinated whole chia seed. As will be shown, those varieties of chia seed crackers prepared without ground grains experience a pH drop of less than about 0.2 during the course of processing.
In order to better illustrate the product and the methods that Applicant claims as his invention, Applicant will show below a side by side comparison of Applicant""s method and Baker""s method for producing Rice Crackers, the closest known background art.
First, Applicant weighed and recorded the weights of each of the ingredients listed in Baker""s above recipe for Rice Crackers, so that this recipe could be exactly duplicated at any time. Applicant did not use the optional 1 teaspoon of salt. (Highly health conscious people favor a salt-free diet.) The above recipe then becomes:
When Applicant followed the above recipe, his food processor had difficulty grinding the mixture of rice sprouts, chia seed, and water due to the lack of sufficient water in the mix, the ground chia seed very quickly absorbing the available water. The resultant batter developed large cracks during dehydration and consequently had an unacceptable appearance. Therefore, Applicant modified the above recipe to utilize 8 ounces instead of 4 ounces of water in the mixture of rice sprouts, chia seed and water. Applicant""s food processor was able to grind this modified mixture much better and much more thoroughly than the mixture resulting from the unmodified recipe. Applicant then reground the resultant batter with 4 additional ounces of water to make a very thick cream. Applicant estimates that pHo, the pH value of a 6:1 slurry made from this batter would be about 6.0. When the resultant batter was dehydrated, it still developed large cracks, but had a more acceptable appearance than previously. pHf, the pH value of a 6:1 slurry made from the dehydrated product was 4.66. Hence xcex4pHLA, the pH drop due to lactic acid souring is estimated to be 6.0xe2x88x924.66=1.34. Applicant believes the cracks developed due to the fact that rice does not contain gluten, and the amount of chia seed used (3.2 oz.) is insufficient to bind together the 14 ounces of ground rice sprouts. Another contributing factor to the size of the cracks is that the batter, due to its low viscosity, must be dehydrated on dehydrator sheets which leads to rapid drying at the surface and slower drying where the batter contacts the dehydrator sheet, causing severe strains in the drying batter.
With these modifications and a filling in of details, on the next page is shown a side by side comparison of Baker""s and Applicant""s methods for making rice crackers:
Applicant will now describe the novel features of his invention referring to the several steps of his above method for making sprouted rice crackers.
The big advantage in drying the rice sprouts at step 2B is that the dried sprouts may be stored and milled as needed. But when the wet sprouts are ground to a paste (as in Baker""s method), the crackers must be made immediately, as ground wet sprouts will start to sour noticeably after only a few hours.
The advantage in milling the dried sprouts to a flour as opposed to grinding the wet sprouts to a paste is that sprouts can be ground much more quickly and much more finely in a mill than in a food processor.
At step 4B, an amount of chia seed equivalent to the weight of the dried rice is measured out. It takes about a 1 to 1 ratio of whole chia seed to nongluten-containing ingredients to yield a cracker which holds together well. At step 5B, just the right proportion of water must be used. If too little water relative to chia seed is used, the rice and chia seed mixture will become too thick to be evenly spread on the dehydrator screen at step 11B. If too much water relative to chia seed is used, the chia seed and rice mixture will be too watery to be spread upon a screen at all and will ooze through the openings in the screen.
Rice crackers were made by Applicant""s method. At step 8B, it is estimated that pHo, the pH of a 6:1 slurry made from the batter would be about 6.0. And pHf, the pH value of a 6:1 slurry made from the dehydrated product pHf was 5.0. Hence it is estimated that xcex4pHLA, the pH drop due to lactic acid souring would be about 6.0xe2x88x925.0=1.0.
Whole chia seed has a number of advantages over ground chia seed:
1. Since the chia seed is not ground, not only will its interior nutrients be protected from oxidation, but bacteria will not have access to the seed""s interior, effectively preventing any souring thereof.
2. The fewer the ingredients that are ground, the greater the energy savings will be, and the more quickly the resultant product can be prepared.
3. Not having its seed coat broken, whole chia seed resists rancidity much better than ground chia seed.
Crackers made from whole chia seed have a number of advantages over those background art crackers made from a large proportion of gluten containing grains:
1. Chia seed does not contain gluten to which many people are allergic.
2. Chia seed stirs easily into an aqueous slurry of the other ingredients, and, after having been thoroughly mixed together with them, quickly thickens the batter to such an extent that the batter can now be spread upon dehydrator screens, where the upper and lower surfaces of the batter dry simultaneously. This shortens drying time, limits bacterial souring, and, reduces energy costs. Further, the resultant product has no cracks and has a more uniform color and appearance; the upper and lower surfaces of the product are indistinguishable. (Suitable screen material would have a hole size of about 0.12 inches by 0.14 inches, and a strand thickness of about 0.05 inches. The screen material provides a perforated surface which gives drying air access to the lower surface of the drying cracker batter.) The type of drying surface provided by a supported screen, mesh, perforated surface or other functionally equivalent surface which gives drying air access to both the upper and lower surfaces of the drying batter simultaneously shall be called a xe2x80x9cdouble-access drying surfacexe2x80x9d. The upper surface of the double-access drying surface which contacts the lower surface of the drying batter shall be referred to as xe2x80x9cthe upper surface of the double-access drying surfacexe2x80x9d.
3. Since the upper and lower surfaces are equally exposed to drying air, any souring of the other ingredients will be moderate, and the pH values of slurries prepared from the upper and lower surfaces of the dried end-product will be nearly equal.
4. Since batter containing sufficient chia seed holds together well even before being dehydrated, large quantities of batter can be spread upon each dehydrator screen without overflowing, thus dramatically increasing the yield from each dehydrator tray, and, again, reducing costs.
Step 7B is a very critical step. Since the chia seed very quickly absorbs water, Applicant originally thought that the chia seed had to be poured into the pail all at once and quickly stirred. In fact, the directions found on boxes of bulk-forming laxatives containing psyllium husks (which act similarly to chia seed in absorbing water, but neither as much as nor as quickly as chia seed) specify that the product must be quickly poured into a glass of water and drunk quickly before it has a chance to gel and thicken. But when chia seed is quickly poured all at once into the mixing pail, it tends to conglomerate and solidify into many large clumps which frustrates any attempt to evenly disperse the chia seed throughout the rest of the batter. This greatly hinders attempts to smoothly spread the batter on the drying surface, and furthermore results in clumps of chia seed in the final product, which renders the product unmarketable. After much trial and error, Applicant determined that the best way to add the chia seed is to very slowly pour in the chia seed while quickly stirring the mixture into which the chia seed is being poured (no more than about 1/300 of an ounce of chia seed per revolution of the mixing paddle per square inch of the surface area of the mixture in the mixing container).
The reason for the wait of step 9B is to give the chia seed a chance to absorb water from the rest of the batter thus stiffening or thickening it. With as little water as is being used here, the mixture very quickly becomes thick enough to be spread on dehydrator screens rather than upon solid sheets. The big advantage of using screens rather than solid sheets is that the batter after being spread on the screens dries on both the upper and lower surfaces simultaneously, thus doubling the rate at which a given thickness of batter dries, greatly reducing the bacterial souring in any milled ingredients which were added to the batter, and greatly facilitating much larger yields per dehydrator tray. Further, the screen peels off of the final product much easier than a solid dehydrator sheet would. If just the right proportions of chia seed, other ingredients (rice sprouts, here), and water are used, the dehydrator screen will peel off the final dried product with practically no sticking whatsoever.
The reason for placing the dehydrator circular screen on a smooth surface before spreading the batter on it is that the batter is somewhat stiff and consequently a considerable amount of pressure must be applied to spread and smooth the batter evenly over the dehydrator screen. Without a solid surface underneath the circular screen, the batter tends to be forced through the screen openings. Even with a solid surface underneath, the batter somewhat tends to fill in the screen openings. Therefore, at steps 12B and 13B, the screen with its batter is placed in a dehydrator tray, another screen is placed on top of the batter, an inverted dehydrator tray is placed on top of the first dehydrator tray. Each dehydrator tray has a circular wall surrounding the center hole with openings in the wall for air circulation. When one dehydrator tray is inverted and fitted on the other dehydrator tray, these walls interlock forming a tightly fitting two tray assembly. This whole two tray assembly is then flipped, the top tray (which was the bottom tray) is removed, and the screen is peeled off. Since the chia seed is very cohesive at this point, the screen peels off very easily. Wet chia seed sticks to itself much more strongly than it sticks to the screen and thus, as the screen is pulled away from the batter, the chia seed at or near the surface of the batter pulls away from the screen openings any batter which was partially forced through them when the batter was being spread on the screen. Now the batter is sitting on the screen which was placed on top of it in step 12B. Since the batter was never pressed onto this screen by any vigorous spreading action, once the batter is dry, it peels away from the screen very easily. In those products in which a sticky syrup like honey is not used, the screen literally falls away from the dried batter, thus not only greatly speeding up production, but also greatly simplifying cleanup.
It should be noted that products prepared according to the above methods will not develop the ugly disfiguring cracks common to products containing chia seed prepared without these methods. The first time Applicant prepared a batter containing whole chia seed, he spread the batter on dehydrator solid sheets rather than upon circular screens. As the batter dried, it developed ugly disfiguring cracks. And it was not obvious what, if anything, could be done to prepare a product without these ugly cracks which rendered the product unmarketable. The following factors have been found to wholly eliminate the unsightly cracks in the drying batter:
1. The chia seed to be added to the batter is added as follows: The chia seed is very slowly poured into the mixing container while quickly stirring the mixture into which the chia seed is being poured (no more than about 1/300 of an ounce of chia seed per revolution of the mixing paddle per square inch of the surface area of the mixture in the mixing container). This results in the chia seed being evenly dispersed throughout the batter thus preventing the forming of numerous clumps of chia seed in the batter.
2. Using sufficient whole chia seed in the batter to be dried, especially if the batter does not contain any gluten-bearing ingredients. If too little chia seed is used, the batter will not hold together well, and this contributes to cracks developing in the batter.
3. Repeatedly slicing the batter during the first few hours of drying. Repeatedly slicing the batter during the early hours of drying alleviates the pressures which develop in the batter crust as it dries.
4. Drying the batter on screens rather than on solid sheets. When solid sheets are used, the batter near the surface dries more quickly than the portion of the batter in contact with the solid sheet resulting in strains developing in the batter. These strains aggravate any tendency to cracking.
5. As batter dries, a crust tends to develop on the surfaces of the batter through which it is increasingly more difficult for moisture to escape as time passes. (This is known as xe2x80x9ccase-hardeningxe2x80x9d.) Slicing the batter into thin slices (xc2xc inch or less) early and often in the dehydration process not only alleviates much of the strain which develops in the batter as it dries and shrinks, but also gives moisture many places to escape through the drying crust. This greatly reduces drying time and inhibits microbial activity.
Applicant has recently discovered that the agglutinant in chia seed can easily be separated from the chia seed and be used to agglutinate products which do not have chia seed as an ingredient. This agglutinant has a most unusual propertyxe2x80x94it has an effect out of all proportion to its weight; Very little need be used to agglutinate a product. One of the drawbacks of products containing whole chia seed is that the chia seed tends to stick somewhat between one""s teeth thus resulting in a somewhat unsightly appearance. By using only the agglutinant extracted from chia seed rather than the whole chia seed, this negative consequence is avoided.
What is meant when it is said that the mucilaginous properties of whole chia seed cause products in which it is used to cohere is that when an aqueous mixture of the other ingredients is formed, and whole chia is stirred in, the mucilaginous seed coats of the chia seed dissolve and come into intimate contact with the other ingredients to such an extent that when the product is dried, the product coheres.
What is meant when it is said that the mucilaginous properties of the agglutinant derived from whole chia seed cause products in which it is used to cohere is that when an aqueous mixture of the other ingredients is formed and the agglutinant derived from whole chia is stirred in, this agglutinant dissolves and comes into intimate contact with the other ingredients to such an extent that when the product is dried, the product coheres.
The purpose of this invention is to produce a good tasting attractive appearing snack food from slightly germinated whole chia seed which:
1. is easy to chewxe2x80x94not only is the seed coat of whole chia seed relatively soft but it quickly dissolves in the mouth leading to a very easy to chew product.
2. does not have the sharp edges sometimes exhibited by products prepared exclusively with gluten containing grains.
3. holds together well. It is characterized by its use resulting in a food product which is firm to the touch, and substantially dry and non-gooey to the touch when so touched, so that the resultant food product makes a convenient snack food.
4. has good shelf-life and resists rancidity.
5. is low in gluten or is gluten-free. Certain people are allergic to wheat or cannot properly digest it leading to digestive distress. Their diet must be completely gluten-free.
6. has very few processing steps: the chia seed need not be previously sprouted and needs only to be stirred into a batter of the other ingredients. (When the chia seed is stirred into the batter, it absorbs water, and, during further processing, sprouts to a slight extent; hence, it is referred to as slightly germinated.) Further, the chia seed does not need to be milled into flour before being used to make crackers.
7. provides complete protection of the interior nutrients of the chia seed against the ravages of oxidation which would destroy some of those interior nutrients if the chia seed were ground into flour.
8. is unsoured. Since the chia seed is not ground into a paste or a flour which would expose the inner portion of the seed to lactic acid bacteria, it does not sour during the dehydration process which produces the final product. Further, since chia seed quickly absorbs all available water during the preparation process, this water is kept from those ingredients which have a tendency to sour, thus greatly retarding the souring of those ingredients.
9. is partially or slightly germinated. Slightly germinating chia seed will decrease its content of enzyme inhibitors and slightly increase enzymatic activity. And since it is slightly germinated, it also has increased vitamins over the unsprouted chia seed, and is somewhat better digested than unsprouted chia seed.
10. is of excellent and uniform appearance. This product is not disfigured by the ugly cracks which ruin the appearance of the background art products.
11. can be made relatively thick; hence, there are fewer dehydrator screens to clean for a given weight of end product.
12. the final product does not stick to the screens on which it was dried; hence, no oil is required in product preparation.
13. in one of its forms, has the organoleptic properties of dried figs: chewy, crunchy, and sweet.
Another purpose of this invention is to produce a good tasting attractive appearing snack food from the agglutinant derived from slightly germinated whole chia seed which:
1. does not have the sharp edges sometimes exhibited by products prepared exclusively with gluten containing grains.
2. holds together well. The resultant food product will be firm to the touch, and substantially dry and non-gooey to the touch when so touched, so that the resultant food product will make a convenient snack food. If the food product is touched with one""s finger, it will not cling to one""s finger, and if it is picked up between two fingers, it will not fracture.
3. is expected to have good shelf-life and resist rancidity.
4. is low in gluten or is gluten-free. Certain people are allergic to wheat or can not properly digest it leading to digestive distress. Their diet must be completely gluten-free.
5. has very few processing steps: the agglutinant derived from the whole chia seed needs only to be stirred into a batter of the other ingredients.
6. is unsoured. Since the agglutinant is derived from chia seed which has not been ground, it does not sour during the dehydration process which produces the final product.
7. is of excellent and uniform appearance. This product is not disfigured by the ugly cracks which ruin the appearance of the background art products.
Accordingly, several objects and advantages of the instant invention are:
(a) to provide a gluten-free agglutinant which can be stirred into a batter of various other ingredients and consequently thicken the batter to such an extent that the batter can be piled higher on dehydrator screens than it ever before could be piled on dehydrator solid sheets with no more than a small amount of souring occurring in any sourable ingredients. The rapid drying which occurs when dehydrator screens are used greatly retards bacterial souring of any ingredients which were ground before being stirred into the batter.
(b) to provide easy to chew sprouted food products with pleasant taste and excellent shelf life and thus suitable for a dietary staple and a healthful snack food. The shelf stability of these products is due to the water activity of the product having been reduced to less than 0.80 for short term storage and to less than 0.60 for long term storage.
(c) to provide a quick drying method for making large quantities of good tasting sprouted products very economically and with significant energy savings. With each species, the batter not only can be made up to 1 inch thick, but also can be spread on dehydrator screens instead of dehydrator solid sheets thus greatly speeding up the dehydration process and reducing bacterial souring. Not only can larger batches of crackers now be obtained, but also fewer dehydrator trays and screens need be used, and considerably less cleanup is required.
(d) to provide methods of preparing sprouted seed products in which mold and fungal growths are entirely prevented.
(e) to provide a healthful product with not only a pleasant satisfying taste but also an attractive appearance as well.
(f) to provide a gluten free agglutinant for agglutinating all kinds of foods from the vegetable kingdom: fruits, vegetables, grains (both sprouted and unsprouted), sweet syrups (including honey), vegetable powders, etc.
(g) to provide low-gluten food products with a CFA in excess of 0.6, and gluten-free foods with a CFA of 1.0.
(h) to provide a food product with the organoleptic properties of dried figs: sweet, chewy, and slightly crunchy.
(i) to provide an agglutinant derived from whole slightly germinated chia seed which can be used as a nonsweet gluten-free agglutinant for various food products.
For the purpose of illustration of this invention, a preferred embodiment is shown in the accompanying drawings. It is to be understood that this is for the purpose of example only and that the invention is not limited thereto.